POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
Early super access used for mortgage payments
Making mortgage payments and paying household bills were the two main criteria used by people withdrawing their superannuation early.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), as of September 2020, 29% of people who utilised the early access to super scheme used their super to pay off their mortgage while 27% used it to pay household bills.
Other categories included paying off personal debt (15%), payments related to vehicle (6%) or adding to savings (13%).
Another 12% of people said they used the funds for ‘other’ reasons.
The average single withdrawal was $7,728 for the first tranche and then $7,536 in the second opportunity while those who accessed the scheme twice, withdrew a total average of $17,441, the ABS said.
A total of around $36 billion was withdrawn by super members during the available period with the average age of people utilising the scheme being 38. The largest withdrawals were seen by the largest super fund AustralianSuper, where members withdrew $4.9 billion, and Sunsuper among the most-affected super funds.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Laura Dew is editor at Super Review. Prior to joining SR, she spent five years working at Investment Week in the UK covering asset and wealth management.
Recommended for you
A member body representing some prominent wealth managers is concerned super funds’ dominance is sidelining small companies in capital markets.
Earlier this month, several Australian superannuation funds fell victim to credential stuffing attacks, which saw a small number of members lose more than $500,000.
Small- to medium-sized funds have become collateral damage in an "imperfect" model for super industry levies, a financial institution has said.
Big business has joined the chorus of opposition against the proposed Division 296 tax.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
90.28 3 y p.a(%)
2
GAM LSA Private Shares AU I
37.08 3 y p.a(%)
3
DomaCom Lot 21 Chellaston Road Munno Para West SA 5115 Australia
31.44 3 y p.a(%)
4
Fidante Credit Suisse Global Private Equity
31.12 3 y p.a(%)
5
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
28.28 3 y p.a(%)
